Note 191 – Have you tried using talking dictionaries?

There are two online dictionaries that I have found useful when trying to work out how to pronounce something.  Howjsay.com is “a free online dictionary of English pronunciation” with 151,299 entries (as at the time of writing).  After you’ve typed in your word, it appears in pink – you then hover your mouse over the word and an English speaking voice pronounces the word for you.  If you click on some words, for example, ‘zebra’ it is pronounced the English way, followed by the American way. 

One of the benefits to this site is that the voice isn’t synthetic; each entry in prerecorded.  You can also compare words easily by typing them in the search box, but you must separate them by semicolons.

The other site I use is thefreedictionary.com.  Here you can click either the English icon or the American icon to hear each pronunciation.

Have fun!

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Until tomorrow…

Sandra
Freelance writer
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